I interview Kevin Cunningham, outreach pastor of a church in Nashua New Hampshire, a town of about 80,000.

Christmas Outreach

Each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the city turns Main Street into a walking district.

Close to 30,000 people from across New England visit downtown Nashua to officially kick-off the Christmas season.

The evening starts with a procession from City Hall to Railroad Square where the City’s official Christmas tree is lit.

Much of the downtown is closed to traffic for the evening, allowing strollers to enjoy the live entertainment, sample offerings from street vendors, dine in downtown’s fine restaurants and do holiday shopping at specialty shops and boutiques.

Promoting Special Christmas Events

This church used this event to promote two Christmas activities.

• Group’s A Night in Bethlehem—converting our church grounds into a first-century experience of what Bethlehem must have looked like on the first Christmas.
• Our Christmas Eve service—that will feature a lot of drama vignettes, special music and group carol singing.

Conversation Starters

Kevin also shares what was on their table as giveaways.  Click on the images to see larger versions of the Business Cards they gave away.

1. Bibles
2. New Testaments
3. Business card-sized invites to our Christmas activities
4. Booklets (from Outreach Marketing) with the Christmas Story and a message for non Christ-followers that presented the Gospel and a message for believers who are not in fellowship.
5. Gary Rohrmayer’s Your Spiritual Journey pamphlets (Read my review of Spiritual Conversations)
6. CDs from a Marriage Event with authors and speakers Drs. Paul & Virginia Friesen on how to “Be Part of a Great Marriage.”
7. Candy Canes

Intentional Conversations about Faith

Besides marketing the Christmas activities, the volunteer team was also intentional about faith sharing conversations.  Make sure you listen in to see how they held normal conversations during this Christmas outreach.

Read 7 Habits for Highly Effective Personal Evangelism to get a feel for what this might look like.

They included

• a parent needing help raising a middle schooler and looking for a church with a good youth group.
• A couple planning to get married and looking for a church
• A number of people who had drifted away from church over the years and sensing the need to get back on track.
• Some were believers—others from a ritualistic background and looking for something more meaningful.

Showing Church Hospitality to First Time Visitors

About midway through the interview with Kevin, we talk about hospitality issues:

• How did you prepare your volunteers for this table?
• How are you preparing your hospitality and church member to receive them and make intentional connections?
• Plans are you making to help your first time visitors return after the events are over

What would you do differently?

Finally, Kevin shares some practical principles he learned doing this kind of outreach and the one thing he would do differently.

• Find areas or events that already exist in your area where you can generate interest.
• Don’t say no for people.  Even though our town’s event is called the “Winter Holiday Stroll” they included a section for non-profits that we were able to take advantage of.
• Start early.  Our application had to be filed by mid-September.

Podcast of Christmas Outreach

Here is a sample Christmas Party ice breaker and conversational guide that is similar to the one found on page 38 of Christmas Party Games from Creative Youth Ideas.

You can use this icebreaker as a Christmas party game for adults, for youth, and for kids.

You can probably find this party game for Christmas everywhere on the Internet but what I like is the discussion applications to help break the ice for some great faith oriented conversations over the eggnog or punch.

Christmas Party IceBreaker

Name of Party Game: Christmas Forward and Backward.

When I played variations of this Christmas Party game during other seasons, I called it Move to the Left or Right.

Energy level of Christmas Party Game: Low, using chairs in a line.

How to play: Move forward or backward depending on the criteria that is called.

If someone is already occupying that chair, sit on their lap.

Example criteria:

• Move forward if you are wearing green.
• If you like eggnog, move forward one chair
• If you plan to go to church on Christmas eve, move back one chair.

The actual resource of Christmas Party Games for Youth (read my review of Christmas Collection from Creative Youth Ideas) suggests 30 different criteria for this Christmas party game.  That should be enough to stir your creativity for more.

Discussion starters

As a talking point, you can talk about moving forward or moving backward in life.

As you think about your relationships this past year, have you moved forward or backwards?

As you think about your spiritual life, have you moved forward or backwards?

Did you reach any goals you may have had at the beginning of the year for your spiritual life?

Then you can ask this an application:

Take a few moments to plan where you want to be spiritually at the end of next year.

• In relationships?
• In your education?
• In your career?
• In some personal goals?
• In your relationship to God?

This party game for Christmas can be a great ice breaker to start future conversations later over that bowl of eggnog.

Your guests might volunteer with you 1-1 where they would like to grow spiritually later that year.

Read more about the  resource of Christmas Party Games for Youth.

To sandbag your Christmas party guests is to unexpectedly thrust your guests into a socially awkward or highly uncomfortable situation where they are unable to escape, metaphorically speaking.

How we were sandbagged

This happened to us on a Disney vacation, but the same could happen at your evangelistic Christmas party if you are not careful

The offer: We were offered two free park tickets if we attended a continental breakfast.

The hidden agenda: We had to endure a 3 hour presentation on timeshares.  We couldn’t leave.

The result: Highly frustrated sales people, angry customers, and us feeling trapped and victimized.

How to mess up a Christmas Party

Some Christians plan Christmas parties with a hidden agenda.

They invite their friends and neighbors and then sandbag their guests with an unexpected lecture on Jesus.

The food and friendship is all going well.  People are relating and connecting.

Then the host gathers people into a room and starts to lecture them on the need for Jesus.

It’s out of the blue and unexpected.

Some guests are thinking “Is this why I’m here, to be told I need Jesus?”

Is there a better way to do evangelism at a Christmas party?

One way to avoid this situation is to be clear in your invitations to the Christmas party.  Set an expectation ahead of time:

Mention that you’ll be sharing a little about your faith and why Christmas is important to you.  Be clear that it’s a personal story and that it will be brief.

This sets an expectation in the mind of your Christmas party guest that there will be some no-pressure faith sharing happening.

You might have some ice-breakers that touch on spiritual themes (next post).

You might have people share meaningful Christmas traditions.

You might share one short aspect of your testimony when you have the group’s attention (after all, you said you would in your Christmas party invitations).

When it’s time to speak to your group, gather them around you with

“As I mentioned in the invitation to each of you, I wanted to take a few moments to share why Christmas is important to us.  I won’t too share much, and I won’t put pressure on any of you, but I simply want to share how my life is different because of Jesus.”

Then share a piece of your personal testimony.

Invite those who want to know more to talk with you one on one after your presentation as the party resumes.

This low key approach still accomplishes some evangelistic activity of sharing some of the gospel and some of your personal testimony.  The key is that it was expected at the Christmas party because you mentioned it in your invitation.

Do you need church Christmas Party Game Ideas?

Read my review of a resource of Christmas party games, some of which have spiritual conversation starters.

• Christmas Party Icebreaker to Start Spiritual Conversations
• Creative Youth Group Game Ideas for Christmas

When we make it a human work, we

• feel pressure to get a decision.
• feel unprepared to handle every possible objection.
• feel insecure in presenting what we personally know about Jesus.

Rather, Evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But even with that in mind, we are prone to errors.

Top 3 mistakes in personal evangelism

1.  Failure to pray

Prayer prepares your heart, and God uses prayer to draw people to Christ.  Evangelism is ultimately a spiritual work.

Perhaps you can create a prayer list to help you with that?

Action step: Make a prayer list of friends.

When was the last time you prayed through your list of friends?

See Also:

• Ten Prayer Points For your Friends
• Prayer and Evangelism
• Three Verses on Prayer (in a book review article)
• Take the Risk, Offer to Pray.
• Prayer and Evangelism (Acronym to lead your prayer)
• HEART.
• Evangelism PAINS
• Prayer Strategy for Personal Evangelism (PODCAST)

2.  Spend zero time with non-Christians

Most effective evangelism happens between friends.

But many of us have been Christians for so long that we have few if any non-Christian Friends.

Thus, one highly effective habit to be intentional in building deep and authentic relationships.

As you look over your list of friends you are praying for, who do you need to “get to know better” or “spend some time with” this coming week?

Related Article: Spheres of Influence

3.  Control the conversation

This one is huge.

There are evangelistic methods where the evangelist controls the conversation through leading questions.

Others require the evangelist to steer the conversation from the mundane to the spiritual in a few short steps.

I watched one evangelist talk about the credibility of the bible, when it was clear that wasn’t a question in the mind of the listenener.

Instead, listen for spiritual thirst.

Spiritual Thirst opens conversational doors.

Good questions will open the door to great conversation, rather than leading the conversation down a defined path.

Read:

• 5 Great Spiritual Conversation Questions
• Resource: 52 Questions for Bible Teachers
• 44 Spiritual Conversation Starter Questions
• 20 Evangelism Questions To Start a Conversation
• Evangelistic Conversation Starter Questions

Personal Evangelism Coaching:

If you would like personalized help in personal evangelism over the next 60 days, I provide a telecoaching service of four phone calls over a 60 day period.

Read more about it here:  Personal Coaching for Personal Evangelism

Imagine, you are at the beach with a friend, talking about life.

The rhythm of the crashing waves, the cry of seagulls, and the breeze creates a relaxing setting where the the conversation takes a deeply spiritual turn.

The spontaneous conversation begins to go deep about some personal issue and it’s clear that

your friend is confessing a deep sense of purpose seeking.

The search for purpose is a spiritual thirst that opens up natural faith sharing opportunities.

The Best Gospel Conversations Are Never Planned

Now this doesn’t happen to me all the time.

But perfect opportunities to share your faith occur spontaneously in naturally reflective settings like gazing over the vast ocean at the beach

Conversations to share your faith like this are never planned ahead.

It’s never organized on my calendar.

It is never at a scripted moment (unless one manipulates the conversation).

Rather, opportunities to share your faith and point people to Jesus are surprise impromptu events in life that catch us off guard.

Are you ready to share your faith?

Remember the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch from Acts 8?

Philip didn’t suffer from paralysis when given the opportunity to share his faith.  He didn’t hide behind fears, or pawn the evangelistic task off to somebody else.

Rather, he was ready to share his faith – which gave him the confidence he needed.

Acts 8:26-40 reads:

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian t eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

. . . .
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.  (NIV, 2011, Acts 8:26-35)

How Philip was ready to share with the Ethiopian Official

1.  Philip recognized the Lord’s prompting

Phillip had been directed by the Lord to go on a scavenger hunt.

“Go to the south road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

He had an angelic visitation to give him this guidance, which many of us don’t ever get, but notice the second prompting.

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” (NIV,v.29 )

The key is that Phillip noticed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to stand next to “THAT” Chariot.  God underlined the chariot and Phillip positioned himself.

Phillip was ready to share his faith because he had a personal relationship with the Lord where he cultivated the skill of recognizing the evangelistic prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Phillip was ready to share his faith because he was spiritually prepared.

2.  Philip knew the Good News about Jesus

Philip was prepared ahead of time for the conversation.

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.  (NIV 8:35)

He may not have memorized a gospel script like the Bridge Illustration, but he was ready to share the good news.

Phillip was ready to share his faith because he knew the gospel story.  Phillip knew how to share, and even more so, how to share the story well.

Phillip was ready to share his faith because he was prepared with a message.

Develop 2 skills to share your faith

There are certainly more than 2 areas, but these two are foundational to the model of personal evangelism that I teach in the Fear Free Evangelism Seminar (CD SET, available on 5 CDs).

1.  Develop a vibrant personal spiritual life.

In order to be effective at personal evangelism, we need to be nurturing that relationship with Christ.

We do that through

• through our regular devotional time
• spending time in the Word of God
• spending time in prayer
• spending time giving, serving, and attending church
• growing in the community of faith,
• giving ourselves away in the community service programs of our church.

All of these things serve and nurture that vibrant relationship with Jesus.

This helps us to

• recognize the voice of the Lord when we are prompted.
• Be sensitive to those God given kairos moments.

You’ve got to have personal experience with God through Jesus Christ. You’ve got to be growing in that.

Coaching step:

What steps can you take this week to deepen your relationship with God?

2.  Know a version of the gospel story

I recently read Trevin Wax’s book, Counterfeit Gospels.  (Read my review of Counterfeit Gospels)

It’s a good theological study on various different gospel versions that are out there.

He reminds us that we need to know not only the gospel announcement, but the whole story.

My advice here is to find one of the gospel scripts and master it.

Be prepared to share your faith by mastering ahead of time a version of the gospel story.  Read about the purpose of evangelism training

Coaching Steps:

What version of the gospel story have you mastered?

I develop this further in this article: How to use a gospel script, along with links to various gospel scripts.

This was a question my neighbor asks while we visit at the poolside on a spring day.

While our kids are splashing, shouting, screaming, laughing and diving into the water, my friend talks with me about deep issues of the heart.

How did we get to this point?

1.  He is my friend.

We laugh and talk about life over a cup of coffee.  Our kids play together.

We also have a history of sharing concerns and preoccupations.

In other words, we are friends.

We are friends who share life together.  He is not my evangelistic project.

I know that sharing faith in the context of genuine friendships has the deepest impact in making life change.

2.  We pray for them.

As a habit, we have regularly prayed for them as well as all of our neighbors.

We pray specifically that they would experience spiritual thirst and that God would give us the eyes to see those conversational opportunities.

I was sensitive and alert to the moment when his thirst was expressed in the form of his question.

I know that sharing faith will not happen unless we have prepared the way in prayer.

3.  Our faith is visible

Our faith is visible without being obnoxious.

For example, we celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together.  They’ve given us permission to publically pray with them at such events.

We invite them to church on a regular basis, as well as to other church gatherings like picnics and community service opportunities.

We share how we do family devotions as parents, talk about the Bible with our kids, and testimonies to how God answers our prayers.  Our faith is not hidden as private matter behind close doors.  It’s part of who we are.

Our faith is visible and open for examination.  Sharing faith is not revealing a secret about who we really are.

Sharing Faith is easy in the security of relationship

It was easy to share my faith that day at the pool side.

In the security of a authentic friendship, he felt comfortable asking me a deeply spiritual question.

Because we had been walking together in life for several months, I had earned the credibility to potentially speak into his life.

This day at the poolside, he gave me permission to share my faith, particularly about his question on forgiveness.

I shared my faith in Jesus, how I encountered forgiveness in Jesus, and how I knew that I had been reconciled to God.

It wasn’t a scripted monologue, but a two way conversation between friends about my faith and his search for forgiveness.

At the end, his last question was

“How can I have this like you have it?”

That day, after hearing the good news, he asked God to forgive him.

An opening in a conversation when a non Christian expresses their spiritual insight, or opens up about some restlessness in their heart.

Then well-meaning Christians become a one-way torrent of gospel information about what a person needs to believe and why other religions are wrong.

Or maybe you’ve seen this:

Your small group has two first time guests who have come to check out a little more about Christianity, but a well meaning Christian tries to get them saved the first night by explaining the need to be washed in the blood of the lamb to satisfy the wrath of a God who hates sin.

These are conversation killers.

These are spiritual thirst killers.  The tender shoot is growing forth and just got squashed.

I’ve seen it in small groups I’ve been a part of, conversations that I’ve learned from, and mistakes that I have made.

How not to kill spiritual thirst.

When a person first opens up to their spiritual need, it’s the time to have a genuine spiritual conversation about their struggles and questions.

Allow God room to work in the life of the person with whom you are talking – we don’t have to rush the process, we are invited to help it along.

1.  Love means you listen

Listening shows love.   Impatiently spewing forth doctrinal truth to correct their mis-beliefs does not.

If someone has become vulnerable enough to freely talk about their spiritual thirst, or even share their current beliefs about life, death, or other spiritual themes, you need to listen.

In small group gatherings, love means listen to the beliefs and opinions of all who express them.  It’s important to listen to their story, not think about your own or how you need to correct them.

In personal conversation, love means listen to your friend and understand them.

Tolerance is not approval, but giving space to people to express their views even if we disagree.  There is a time to engage in critique, but not at the first glimpse.

2.  Love means you ask great questions

Asking great questions invites your conversational partner to express their opinions and beliefs.  Asking questions invites further conversation, further sharing, and further insight into people.

Good questions uncover the truth about what people really think, and they create the opportunity to share life and truth together.

I like to follow my curiosity when people express something I don’t understand:

• How does that comfort you?
• How did you discover that?
• How does that happen?

I also like to follow my curiosity about where beliefs might cause internal conflict:

• Does that answer all your questions?
• Where do you wish you had more answers?
• Can you elaborate on that?
• How is it working for you?
• How does your position X work with your conviction Y?
• How does that satisfy the longing that I hear you express?

Drilling down with “how” questions, without it being an interrogation, allows a conversation to grow deep, and creates the safety and security between you to allow for the formation of new ideas.

Don’t kill spiritual thirst, water it.

Rather than squashing spiritual thirst in my enthusiasm to share the gospel, I listen and  use questions to help the spiritual conversation along.

I call this watering – nurturing a spiritual journey to Jesus.

I trust in the sovereignty of God to be at work.

By giving space for small group visitors or my friends to express their beliefs or even disagreements about Christianity, I eventually earn the right to express my belief and engage them in meaningful and safe discussions.

I get the chance to answer questions, shape ideas, and help a person in their discovery of Jesus.  But only after helping them feel safe talking with me.

I’ve had deeply personal conversations with strangers, and have led strangers to Christ.

But those conversations were the results of months of spiritual preparation by their friends who were already speaking into their life – I just happened to be a confirming piece of information they were looking for.

Statistics in various studies have shown that the verbal and life witness seen through personal relationships with genuine Christians are what lead new believers.

For example, in Shawn Anderson’s nationwide study in the US (in (Living Dangerously: Seven Keys to Intentional Discipleship), writes

The results revealed that, indeed, individuals were influenced to commit their lives to Jesus by people who modeled Jesus in their lives.

4 Reasons that Relationship Evangelism Works.

As I thought about this, here are 4 reasons why relationships are important in personal evangelism.

1. You’ve got credibility.

From reading unChristian, the Church as an institution doesn’t have a lot of credibility. Your friend might even have a crazy relative or obnoxious friend who is always forcing a Jesus-conversation upon them.

For your friend to become a Christian, they need a credible witness: someone who is normal.

Your friend trusts you and your ideas, even if they don’t agree with you. You’ve built respect in your relationship and that fosters the positive credibility to be a person of influence.

Growth step: In which relationships with non-Christians do you need to improve credibility? What can you do this week to change that?

2. You’ve got visibility.

Over time, people can see what defines your life. Your interests, hobbies, and choices, plus how you respond to circumstances, are visible to your friend.

For example, with my friends, I can talk about

• my calling,
• how I experience God’s provision for our work
• what I’m learning from my devotional life with God.
• how God is at work in the life of our church as people find faith
• knowing the presence of God’s peace in the midst of our challenges.

They see that I choose

• Giving $$ to mission projects that advance the gospel.
• Going to church over cutting the yard on a beautiful Sunday
• Godly ways I raise my children as I get wisdom from God’s word.
• Giving vacation time to foreign missions with my family instead of a week at the beach.

I am comfortable in expressing the spiritual side of my life: my walk with Christ. People hear that I walk with God. They hear current stories of what God is doing in my life.

Growth Step: Can you talk about your spiritual life with Christ? What story God’s activity in your life can you share with a friend?

3. You’ve got accessibility.

When strangers interrupt our life with some agenda they are pushing, we are naturally defensive.

But in your relationships, you’ve got access to speak to deep places.

You’ve got access to hearing their needs, hopes, desires and struggles. They call on you when life throws them a curve ball.

They might share with you how they face financial ruin.

They might share with you how they are headed towards divorce.

In the safety of credible relationships, you’ve got access to their deepest needs when they come to the surface. You’ve got access when they start to talk about their spiritual thirst.

Very rarely will a stranger get that level of access.

Growth Step: What steps can you take this week to deepen your relationships with non-Christians?

4. You’ve got “speakability”.

Within the safety of a trusted relationship you have earned the right to speak freely about faith.   You’ll have earned the right to speak about your friend’s faith.

You’ll have earned the right to speak to their spiritual thirst when you hear it.

And this conversation may not be just at one time, but over the course of several conversations spread out over time.

The people that I have most influenced for the kingdom of God are people who allowed me to speak into their life over a season of time.

I’ve been able to ask about their beliefs, talk intelligently about them, and even disagree without being obnoxious about it.

Growth step: Have you heard your friend speak about their spiritual restlessness?  Pray that the Lord gives you a chance to speak into that.

We can talk freely with our friends about many subjects, but are at a loss when we want to bridge the gap between everyday life and the Lord.

What does driving to work every morning or playing golf or washing the dishes or changing the baby have to do with our spiritual lives?

The tension here is between manipulating a conversation vs raising curiosity for authentic spiritual discussion.

If evangelism is your ulterior motive for having this conversation, then your conversation will be manipulative because you are wanting to control it to get to your point.

The following suggestions are adapted from Evangelism for the Fainthearted by Floyd Schneider, copyright (c) 2000.

The process for spiritual conversation:

1. Pray.

Ask the Lord to guide your thoughts and comments as you approach a person.

Ask Him to work in your friend.

It is God who does the work. You just have to begin the process.

2. Surface talk.

This level of conversation is the perfect starting place for an evangelistic conversation.

Talk about the weather, the slow service in the shop, the Little League game, sports, etc.

Mention something that opens your life up just a little. Then, casually ask the acquaintance about that same area of his or her life.

Example:  Have you lived here long? Be sure that you really listen to what the person has to say.

3. Personal talk.

You will never run out of things to talk about: ask questions about the person’s birthplace, hometown family, education, work, vacations, retirement, interests, and hobbies.

Once a subject has been mentioned, ask a question about it.

Attempt to establish some common interests with the person. Be a good listener and use their name in the conversation. Check their body language to see if the person is comfortable with the direction of the conversation.

4. Religious talk.

The first levels of conversation are pre-evangelism.  They build rapport.

Don’t assume that a stranger or acquaintance doesn’t want to talk about religious things. Even atheists like talking about their views of God and most people appreciate having someone ask them about themselves and listening to their ideas or their problems in life.

Talk about religion, churches, or church activities. A listening ear may be the very thing that causes a person to seek God.

Example: “On weekends we usually go hiking on Saturday, then we eat out in a restaurant after church. Do you attend church?”

If the friend is not interested at this time, retreat to step three. Don’t push the gospel on anyone. Don’t feel guilty or become discouraged and quit witnessing altogether. Leave the results to God.

5. Spiritual talk.

Ask yourself, Does this person’s actions and attitudes indicate that he or she wants to talk about spiritual things? If you sense an openness after the religious talk, you can do several things:

• Invite him or her to visit your church. Be sure to meet at the door and sit together.
• Talk about what Christ has done for you. Keep your story simple or just share a few incidents.
• Ask the person two questions: If you were to die today, could you say for certain that you will go to heaven?  Why should God let you into His heaven?
• Share the gospel with him or her. Keep the message as simple as possible.
• Give a religious book that has a message of hope and get together in a few weeks to discuss it.
• If the friend is not seeking at this time, retreat to step four.

Order your copy of Evangelism for the Fainthearted by Floyd Schneider from Amazon (affiliate link).

Since this was my first discussion with them, I wanted to get a feel for their experiences and their pre-conceptions about

What is evangelism?

The outgrowth will be future discussions into particular areas.

What is evangelism?

Leading a group discussion on evangelism can be a challenge because the field of evangelism is huge.

In fact I did an evangelism mind map to start thinking about all the different aspects for this group discussion.

If you are

• gathering a new evangelism team, or
• starting up a new evangelism work in the local church, or
• leading some other group discussion on evangelism

here are some discussion questions I used that you might find useful.

Discussion Questions – What is evangelism?

• How would you describe or define evangelism?
• How do you think evangelism should be done?
• How do you do evangelism in your life now?
• In your journey to faith in Christ, how did evangelism happen in your life?
• What is the role of the congregation in evangelism?
• What is the role of the pastor in evangelism?

The Group Discussion on Evangelism

The opening question generated lots of answers that felt like cliches or rote answers — quick bursts of answers from years of hearing it from the pulpit.

• Preaching the Word.
• Sharing the Good News.
• Sharing your testimony.
• Giving the reason for your faith.

It may seem like a no-brainer question, but this questions reveals assumptions that people bring to the discussion on evangelism.

As the group facilitator, I pushed back a little to help people think through the “fixed answers.”

For example,

• What’s good news?  What makes it good?
• Can laypeople do evangelism if it’s only preaching?
• What are the key elements to the gospel that you want to share?
• Personally, how do you share?

As we got into the group evangelism discussion, it became clear that on a surface level, these 8 people had great answers, but underneath that surface, I saw

• Different approaches to evangelism.
• Different experiences.
• Different theological understandings.

Avoid conversational drift.

Most opening discussions on the nature of evangelism, if unchecked at this point, tend to drift into colorful theological debates. For example,

• Do people respond to God’s grace, or do they make a decision to respond?
• What is the value or lack of value over the “sinners prayer?”
• Do people have to fully understand their sin first, or can they start following Jesus and learn about sin later?
• Can people follow first and understand later?
• Can people follow Jesus before even having a completely biblical world view?
• What do people have to understand before following Jesus?
• Can conversions be “false?”

Other times, it may drift into areas of practice and styles:

• Rush to present the gospel to as many people as possible.
• Take the time to build relationships of influence with people.
• Invite people to church
• Go to the mission field.

The purpose of this group discussion on evangelism was not theological debate, but to expose some of the presuppositions that these group members were bringing to the table.

By exposing the presupposition through careful questions that challenge simple rote assertions, it made for a very rich discussion, and then setup the potential for further discussion into particular areas.

Get a full copy

I’ll send you the full PDF discussion guide that I used.  I want to have it field tested with other users, not just me.  To get it, leave a comment below (or at the blog if you get this via feed).

At least tell me how and with whom you’d use this discussion guide.

I’ll send it to you and then follow up to see how the discussion went.